Retro Reviews: Night of the Creeps (1986)

Another horror film review, well I am trying to play catch-up on some of the films I have missed over the years. I do not know how Night of the Creeps passed me by. It came out in the mid-1980s and after viewing the film, it was right up my ally. So why did I miss this one? I do not know. I knew about it, for some reason it escaped me. I have totally forgotten about it until recently when it was brought up on my horror group, Horror Movie Massacre. If you’re on Facebook, feel free to join.

Night of the Creeps begins on an alien craft with some weird looking aliens. One is being chased by two others. The one being chased is caring a canister of some kind. The alien sends it out into space and it crash lands on Earth in 1959. The film picks up with this couple at “look out point” or something. Then some ax murderer kills the girl and the guy gets infested by an alien slug? With that, I am reminded of the film Slither. So did James Gunn rip off Night of the Creeps? No, Slither’s influences were films like Cronenberg’s Shivers and his 1979 film The Brood.

I can go ahead and say one great thing about Night of the Creeps, it is a fun movie. It is 100% 1980s. Everything about it screams 1980s and that may be my biggest draw, other than Tom Atkins of Halloween III fame is the star. Or is the star, Rusty from National Lampoon’s European Vacation. He was actually pretty good in the film, but I think he is a miscast. I only say this because he looks so strange and may be that is where they are going with the character.

These slugs gain entry into the mouth of humans. They become the host for the parasite and the human becomes a zombie…enter one of the best lines in the movie, “The good news is, your dates are here. The bad news is, they’re dead.” Of course this comes from the great Tom Atkins as these tuxedo wearing zombies attack a sorority house.

I say check it out if you can, Night of the Creeps is super fun movie. If you’re a fan of 1980s movies and zombie type movies, hell if you like fun 80s movies, this is for you. Give it a shot, i need to add this to my collections for sure. It totally has re-watchablity. The only thing I would say, do not go in looking for a good horror film that is going to scare you. It is a fun time and that is all.

One final note, the characters all have familiar names, Romero, Cameron, Cronenberg, Hooper, Landis, Raimi and Miner. Of course these names are all horror director icons.

I hope you take my advice and check this one out, it is a ton of fun. I hope you like it!

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I have been watching horror films since I was 6 years old. The story, one Saturday night, my mom and I were watching movies and she fell asleep on the couch. We had the channel set on HBO and the movie we were watching ended and the next one, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. This was some time in 1986. I watched then entire film, I was sitting on the edge of my seat. When my mom woke, she asked me what just ended and I told her, “Freddy”. That was all I talked about for weeks and finally she broke down and rented more horror films for me. She rented, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre part 2, Re-Animator, Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives and Halloween II. I watched all and fell in love with horror films forever.
5 Horror Films to Watch
Inferno (1980)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
The Beyond (1981)
Friday the 13th VI: Jason Lives (1986)
Horror of Dracula (1958)